Mercersburg Academy

About this property

Mercersburg Academy (formerly Marshall College and Mercersburg College) is an independent college-preparatory boarding and day high school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Founded in 1893, the school enrolls approximately 447 students in grades 9 through 12, including postgraduates, on a campus about ninety miles northwest by north of Washington, D.C. On March 31, 1836, the Pennsylvania General Assembly granted a charter to Marshall College to be located in Mercersburg. Dr. Frederick Augustus Rauch came from Switzerland to be the first president of the college under the sponsorship of the Reformed Church in the United States. Rauch served as president from 1836 until 1841. His successor in the position was John Williamson Nevin, who served until 1853 when Marshall College joined with Franklin College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to become Franklin & Marshall College. At this time, the preparatory department of Marshall College became known as Marshall Academy, which later became Marshall Collegiate Institute. In 1865, the name was again changed to Mercersburg College, under whose charter the school continues to operate. The historical tie to the church continues through Mercersburg's membership in the Council for Higher Education of the United Church of Christ. Artist Richard Rummell produced an early 20th-century aerial view of the college. In 1893, Dr. William Mann Irvine was selected by the Board of Regents to lead the school, newly christened The Mercersburg Academy. Irvine oversaw considerable growth in enrollment, faculty, and facilities until he died in 1928. He was succeeded by Boyd Edwards (1928–1941), Charles Tippetts '12 (1941–1961), Bill Fowle (1961–1972), and Walter Burgin '53 (1972–1997). Douglas Hale was appointed head of school in 1997, coming from Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he had been a teacher, assistant headmaster, and, since 1973, headmaster. During Hale's tenure, Mercersburg's endowment grew from $64 million in 1997 to $251 million in June 2015. Hale was succeeded in 2016 by Katherine Titus, who was the first female head of school in the academy's history. Titus was succeeded by Quentin McDowell in 2021. The school is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Boarding School Group (MABS). As of the 2024–2025 school year, 452 students were enrolled: 50% boys and 50% girls. Eighty-one percent of the students were boarding students, while nineteen percent were day students. Students come from around the world, representing 31 nations, 28 American states, and the District of Columbia. International students accounted for 20% of the student body, and 44% of domestic students were people of color. Seventy-eight percent of the Mercersburg Class of 2017 was accepted by one or more colleges defined as 'Most Competitive' or 'Highly Competitive' by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, with sixty-eight percent accepted by one of U.S. News & World Report's Top 50 National Universities or Top 50 Liberal Arts Colleges.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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